Remember
by amaya-chan22
Summary: As the green light moved to hit him he smiled. He let the burden fall from his shoulders, all the pain and regret, everything, because this was the end. Finally.


_June 29th 1997_

_Gellert,_

_These are my last thoughts and I give them to you. I don't think you deserve them but it's more for my peace of mind than anything else. For me to completely rid myself of this world and all the desires which it has brought upon me. Desires which cost me dearly, as you know. To this day I don't know what possessed me that summer. Yet even as I write this, I do know. It was your eyes and your smile and your lips and your touch. It was your intelligence and wit and humour. It was all those qualities yet none. For nearly a century, I have yet to be intimate with another as I was with you. I loved you, held you up on a pedestal, you could do no wrong. _

_I go back to those days so often. When we were so young, careless and free, our days on the hill, remember? When she was still around, still alive, still here. I immersed myself in my work, I tried to forget you, forget us and my mistakes. But I cannot convince myself you are. A mistake. My blind love for you cost me my sister. In many ways I am her killer. I cooped her up all summer; I became infatuated with a foolish boy with even more foolish ideals. I often wonder what would've happened if I'd bothered to change you into becoming a better person. If I'd stayed by your side; if I'd been a better brother to my siblings who needed me there. Caught up so selfishly with myself and my life. _

_You used me and I actually thought you... That you'd do everything and anything for me. But we both know you very well, Gellert, you only say what others want to hear, am I right? I was powerful and smart, if I may be so bold to point out, and you considered me another tool to get you to the top. How could things have gone so horrifyingly wrong within a day? It is within a day which I lost a sister, a brother, and a lover. The irony of it all is that I've dwelled on it for ninety-eight years, that one day: of our days. _

_Time is running out. I need to let go. I cannot though. Maybe once I go, all the anguish shall leave me. All the heart ache and pain will disappear. I don't even know why I'm writing this. It may be because deep down inside I wish you not forget me, us. For you may no longer feel love for me, but I do. I love you. I love you with all my heart and soul. I love you more than anything and I truly do not believe that I shall obtain complete happiness without you by my side. So I ask of you to remember me. I cannot look for you now, for it's far too late. I have tried to visit you many a times but I couldn't bring myself to. To see you so weak and frail, knowing I put you there… I wouldn't have been strong enough. You see, after all these years, I know you can read me like a book and I didn't want to risk it. I couldn't risk you hurting me once more, pushing the rotten corpse of memories like a dagger, deep into my heart. I used to worry that one day I'd stop feeling. Tonight? I feel more human than I have in years._

_I welcome it too._

_Amusing isn't? The man who wishes to destroy me now need only look in Nurmengard. _

'_**For the greater good'**_

_I stole a child's innocence for it, and many lost their lives for it. I shall soon join that cause. _

_I wanted to express my feelings to you on paper, but I know you will never understand. You do not love, nor do you believe in it. I write only because I cannot die a liar, not to you anyway. _

_I think of you every day and night, and I shall do so till death and beyond. _

_I remain yours forever,_

_Albus_

March 1998

An old man sat in a cell alone, a letter clutched in his hand. Words he's long since memorised; words he'll cherish indefinitely.

Words he reads every day over and over again. He always reads the letter although he need not: the words are etched into his memory.

He no longer cares about his life or those of others. What was there to care for? The one life he did care for is gone, no longer in need of protection, of…love.

He didn't understand this. This emptiness which he'd only had a taste of these past decades had come back ten-fold. It felt like he had something heavy lodged in his throat, blocking his airways. There was a heaviness in his heart which he could not comprehend, as if it had pooled down to the pit of his stomach and had decided to rest there, too tired to go back back and too tired to move on. It was a feeling of complete need, so agonising: a true torment.

He had shaken hands with the devil and now he must face the consequences of what he'd started so long ago.

There's a disturbance outside, one which he bothers not to check.

He knows what comes next. After all, he's waited for this moment all his life. His moment of reckoning, was it not?

A man with pallid, snake-like features and icy red eyes, glides regally in, and regards him with a calculating gaze. He was far from afraid though; you can only see so much, you can only feel so much, before you stop feeling certain emotions. He looked up at the creature before him in cold amusement.

"Tom, I knew you'd come one day, but surely you must know, I no longer have what you seek,"

It was a truth universally acknowledged by all who knew Voldemort that he hated his muggle name.

At Voldemort's apparent ill-restrained fury, Grindelwald laughed softly, its resounding echo bouncing playfully at the unwelcome dungeon walls. Choosing to ignore the deranged man until he'd extracted enough information, Voldemort glowered hatefully at him before attempting to coax the answer out of him again.

"Tell me Grindelwald, tell me where it is. Tell me who possesses it,"

He laughed even more deliriously.

A wand was pressed up against his neck. He didn't even flinch. Not long now, he thought contently.

""Kill me then Voldemort. I welcome death, but my death will not bring you what you seek… there is still so much you do not understand…"

Cold, unrestrained fury swept through the sickly pale visitor. He hated being treated in such a manner, as if he were a child. He couldn't seem to penetrate the prisoner's mind…who could have it?

"Dumbledore,"

With barely contained glee, he grinned manically at the inattentive prisoner, as if all of life he'd learnt all of life's answers.

Maybe he believed he had.

Absent-mindedly nodding, Gellert made no move to disagree. Why make it longer than it had to be? The end was nigh. _Nearly there…_

"You've been most useful, Grindelwald. Goodbye,"

As the green light moved to hit him he smiled. He let the burden fall from his shoulders, all the pain and regret, everything, because _this was the end. _Finally.

_Remember_


End file.
